


The Missing Ten Hours

by Thekellobster



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: 1x04, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Cussing, Gen, Good Brother Ben Hargreeves, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Klaus Hargreeves Whump, No Incest, No Sex, Psychological Torture, S1E4, Torture, Whump, man on the moon - Freeform, what happened in the missing ten hours
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-04-08 11:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19105780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thekellobster/pseuds/Thekellobster
Summary: What happened during the ten hours Klaus shared with Hazel and Cha Cha between episodes 1x03 and 1x04? This is honestly just pure whump. Sorry not sorry.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In 1x04 Klaus states that Hazel and Cha Cha have been torturing him for 10 hours. Being a whumper at heart, I found myself thinking way too much about how those hours might have gone. Then I found myself scribbling about it on scrap paper. Then I figured I might as well type it up. Now it's insanely long and still not done. Did I mention I'm not a writer? So, I guess that's a thing now? I dunno. But I've just been stuck in this story and it just keeps getting looooooooonger XD

Their names are Hazel and Cha Cha, two experienced temporal assassins. Their current hit, Number Five, is proving to be extremely elusive. In part, this is due to the fact that Number Five is a legend at the Commission, one of the best temporal assassins ever. Hazel and Cha Cha tried taking the fight to what is apparently his home, but met some very unusual resistance. Not only did they not find Five, but they barely escaped the group of apparently super-powered people they found in residence. Cha Cha is now grouchy and discouraged at the lack of progress. 

“Well, tonight was a total loss!” She slams her hand down on the dresser of the ugly motel room they’re renting.

Hazel leans back, on the bed, icing his swollen hand and drowning his sorrows with a snack. “Well, I wouldn’t call it a _total_ loss.” He smirks and nods his head towards their car.

They suit up and don their masks. Hazel wears a blue bear face with buck teeth, and Cha Cha a pink puppy dog with rosy cheeks. They’ve been using these masks for ages, ever since they realized looking deranged throws opponents off balance enough to give them an upper hand. It’s become something of a trademark. The two head down the stairs to their car in the parking lot. It being the middle of the night, they don’t expect anyone around to see them.

 

***

 

Klaus, Five’s decidedly unusual brother, is trying to enjoy a nice bath at home when the two assassins attack the mansion. Klaus has the ability to commune with the dead, which means being plagued by voices and visions of spirits 24/7. The only relief he’s found are drugs, alcohol, and occasionally loud music played directly into his ears to drown out their wailing. Wrapping himself in a damp towel, he heads down the hallway, dancing along to one of his favorites and completely caught up in the music. He grabs a joint and a lighter, and decides to shrug his jacket on over his towel and head outside for a quick smoke in the night air.

Completely oblivious to the mayhem going on around him at the mansion, he’s taking a long drag off his joint when Hazel, beating a hasty retreat, hits him over the back of the head and scoops him right up on his way to the car. Hazel kicks the trunk open, and unceremoniously dumps an unconscious Klaus into it before hopping into the drivers seat and speeding away. Cha Cha is nowhere in sight, so he assumes they’ll regroup back at the hotel. Once there, he checks on his prisoner, who’s still unconscious, and decides to bind his hands, ankles, and mouth with duct tape just in case. Watching from nearby, the ghost of Ben, Klaus and Five’s brother, rages uselessly at Hazel for what he’s doing. Ben spends his after-life following Klaus around, since Klaus is the only person he can talk to. He observes, but is otherwise unable to act. 

 

***

 

Klaus becomes gradually aware of a pain in the back of his head, and the next thing he notices is darkness. He recognizes that’s he’s regaining consciousness, not just waking up. He knows the difference. Where is he? What happened? Did he OD again? Klaus has been in too many tight situations to count (such is the life of a junkie) so he runs through his well-practiced mental checklist. 1. Take a deep breath. Klaus tries, and realizes his mouth is being held shut. Tape perhaps? Not good. 2. Make sure nothing’s broken. Klaus starts moving his body around gently, checking for aches and pains. He quickly realizes his wrists and hands are also bound, and that he’s lying on his side in a tight, dark space. Also not good. He also realizes he’s wearing his jacket, and what might be a… damp towel? What?

He doesn’t get the chance to ponder further, because he hears footfalls and the trunk is suddenly opened. He blinks against the yellow street light that floods in, and two figures come into focus wearing suits and insane masks. They must be masks, right? Klaus looks back and forth at them, and screams around the tape over his mouth.

Cha Cha, wearing her puppy mask, points her gun at Klaus lying prone in the trunk. Klaus’s focus is instantly off their masks and zeroed in on the weapon pointing at him. His scream chokes off and his eyes go wide. Sucking in a rough breath, he holds it and shrinks away from the gun. He goes quiet, instinctively trying to look small and harmless. He may occasionally play loose with his life, but he does have a sense of self-preservation.

Cha Cha says sternly, “Now that I have your attention, here’s how this is gonna go. We’re gonna take a little walk, and you’re going to behave and shut the hell up. Got it?”

Klaus fixates on the “take a little walk” phrasing, and having seen a few mobster movies, he jumps to the worst possible assumption that they’re planning to execute him. He’s instantly in full blown panic mode, and starts vehemently shaking his head no and scooting backwards, his muffled protests filling the space.

Hazel quickly cuts in, with “Hey! Chill! We’re just walking you to our room!”

Klaus calms slightly, he’s still breathing hard, looking back and forth between the two of them. Ben suddenly pops into existence between them, drawing Klaus’s eyes. Ben looks unruffled, as ever, and disdainfully glances at the two assassins, “Klaus, this is definitely not looking good. But, I don’t think they want to kill you.”

Cha Cha takes a step forward and barks “Hey! You gonna behave!?” Klaus’s attention is snapped back to her and the gun she’s holding as he pauses momentarily, then nods his head frantically.

Satisfied, Cha Cha stows her gun in it’s holster and smoothly pulls out a box cutter. She and Hazel switch positions so that she can slice through the tape holding Klaus’s ankles together. At the same time, Hazel reaches into the trunk to grab Klaus by his upper arms, pulling him out roughly. Klaus stumbles slightly as his bare feet hit the ground, disoriented, but Hazel’s hands don’t leave his arms. Hazel, being half a head taller than Klaus, pulls him close to his right side, wrapping his arm firmly over Klaus’s shoulder and hanging down around Klaus’s neck. While it would appear to any random passerby that he was playfully holding a friend, he was in actuality tightly controlling Klaus’s movements. Hazel and Cha Cha walk quickly across the parking lot to the stairs, leading up to their motel room, Cha Cha ahead by several paces. Klaus is watching his feet, to keep them moving, and glances over to Ben, who’s walking alongside them. Ben, ever the calm rational one, is actually looking a little concerned. Klaus feels a pang of fear in response, and a rising sense of panic as Ben steps in front of them and says “Klaus you have to get away from these lunatics. You have to run!”

Klaus nods slightly, with wide eyes, and as they reach the stairs Klaus’s adrenaline is fully pumping as he psychs himself up to escape. He stumbles on the first step, and forcefully jerks his body downwards, trying to slip Hazel’s grip and make a run for it. But Hazel instantly fists Klaus’s coat before he can fully free himself, and drags him back up under his arm. Realizing he may have missed his chance, Klaus starts thrashing his body, flailing his bound arms and screaming around the tape on his mouth. If he can just get some distance between him and his captor, he reasons, maybe he could fight him off or run. His fight or flight is engaged and he’s frenzied to free himself.

In a clearly practiced move, Hazel quickly slides his arm around Klaus’s neck, constricting his throat in a headlock that immediately chokes off Klaus’s screams into little wheezy, gagging noises. Klaus’s eyes squeeze shut and his bound hands fly to Hazel’s arm, trying to loosen what feels like a vise around his neck. He keeps thrashing, trying to get a kick in or an elbow in a sensitive spot. Hazel is already dragging them both up the stairs, Klaus trying his best to keep his feet, but missing steps and stumbling along while he struggles for breath. His thrashing ebbs when his vision starts to swim with black spots. His ears are ringing with his nearing loss of consciousness when he’s suddenly dropped heavily to the floor of a hotel room. Despite his disorientation, his hands fly up to clumsily rip off the tape over his mouth so he can suck in a massive breath. Following the glorious oxygen, he wracks out several full body coughs from his place, lying on his side on the floor. He faintly registers the sound of a door closing and locking.

Klaus rolls onto his back with a groan, gulping air and still recovering. Hazel and Cha Cha come over to stand on either side of his prone form, looming over him. Cha Cha’s arms are crossed, Hazel’s hands in his pockets. With no heat in his voice, Hazel quips “Well that was rude, but not entirely unexpected.” Klaus nervously looks back and forth between them, still breathing hard. His bound hands held up in front of him in a universal posture of pacification. Hazel reaches down towards him, and Klaus blurts out a hoarse “H-hey sorry. Ok?” which Hazel completely ignores, and grabs Klaus’s bound hands, pulling him up to his shaky feet with little effort. Hazel holds out a beefy hand to Cha Cha and receives the box cutter. Klaus follows Hazel’s hand with his eyes, and involuntarily jerks his body backwards as the blade moves in his direction. Hazel keeps a tight hold on Klaus’s hands, though, and says “Cutting the tape. Hold still.” Klaus eyes him warily, but keeps still as the blade cuts through the tape around his wrists. Cha Cha turns away, barking “Get his coat off”. Hazel finishes with the tape and roughly spins Klaus to face away from him so he can yank at the back of the collar on Klaus’s jacket. Klaus is gratefully rubbing his wrists against the chafe of the tape but mutters “Ok. Ok.” And starts shucking his coat as Hazel’s manhandling demands.

Now that Klaus is officially locked in a room with these two, he reasons maybe if he can just keep his captors appeased he’ll find his opening to escape. Maybe he can talk his way out of this one if he can figure out what they want. He sees Cha Cha is pulling a chair to the center of the room, and looks at Ben who’s sitting on the bed scowling at her. Coat-less now, Klaus is acutely aware that he’s only wearing a damp bath towel. He wraps his arms around his chest, feeling very exposed. He gives Ben an anxious look, as if to say “Do something!” but he knows he’s on his own. 

Hazel grabs Klaus’s shoulder and spins him back around to face him. Then, he puts his palm on Klaus’s chest and walks, pushing him along, forcing Klaus to step backwards until the backs of his knees hit the chair and he plops down unceremoniously with a grunt. “Have a seat!” Hazel jokes, lightly. From his newly seated position, Klaus twists around to see Cha Cha standing behind him, holding the back of the chair, while Hazel stands in front of him, keeping him seated. This is all making Klaus very nervous, his fear overpowering whatever good sense he might possess. He still doesn’t even know what these people want with him, and his imagination is supplying all the worst possibilities.

After a moment, Cha Cha steps around to the side of the chair, telling Hazel “Do his hands”. Klaus is looking forward, in Hazel’s direction, opening his mouth to speak when Cha Cha fists her hand in the short hair on the back of his head and harshly jerks his head backwards without any warning at all. A small, whining exclamation escapes Klaus’s throat. He winces and his hands jump up to grab her hand tangled in his hair. “O-Ow!” he complains, looking up at her lifeless mask, and the ceiling beyond it. He forces himself not to struggle against her grip, knowing that’ll just make it hurt more. Hazel grabs Klaus’s right arm and pulls it away from Cha Cha’s hand, pushing down onto the cold, wooden chair arm. Klaus hears tape screech as it’s pulled off the roll, then it’s wrapping around his wrist, securing it to the chair arm. Klaus briefly contemplates how vulnerable it feels to have your neck exposed in such an obvious way, and it makes his stomach twist. If this situation had just been negotiated beforehand, it might actually be fun. His eyes drift from Cha Cha’s ‘face’ down to see what Hazel is doing, but the pull on his hair stings and he quickly abandons that effort, instead keeping his attention on Cha Cha. He tries to reason with them, “Hey, guys… I-I think this might just be a big misunderst-Ah!” He’s cut off by Cha Cha holding up one finger, and tugging on his hair cruelly to punctuate it.

Cha Cha says “We’re gonna ask the questions. You’re gonna answer the questions.” 

There’s absolute firmness in her voice. Like, just by saying it, she makes it true. Klaus feels vaguely thrilled and simultaneously terrified by her presence, and decides she’s the one he really needs to worry about. He’s met people like her before, they like to be in control and they like to inflict pain. Hazel pulls Klaus’s left arm down and secures his wrist to the other arm of the chair. Cha Cha finally releases his head, gratefully. He gently pulls his wrists, wishing he could rub the pain on his scalp away. She steps to the front of the chair with Hazel as he finishes securing Klaus, and sets the tape aside.

Klaus is definitely scared, but at least now he knows he’s there to provide information. He can do that. Easy. Then he’ll get the hell out of here and be on his merry way. Step one, lighten the mood and show them he’s not a threat. He’ll do what they want.

“Well then, ask away Oh Captor, My Captors!” He jokes, with a laugh and a forced smile.

Cha Cha cuts right to the chase, “We want Number Five. He should’ve been in that big-ass mansion with you. But he wasn’t. We want him.”

The smile slowly falls off Klaus’s face as she speaks. “Oh.” He says. There’s a moment that seems to last an eternity while Klaus contemplates his next move. This isn’t what he was expecting at all. He badly wants to walk out of here, leave the scary people in his dust, and find his next fix. But, when he imagines Five sitting in this chair in his place, or worse, he knows immediately he can’t let that happen. He won’t. Well, that’s it then, he realizes, and resigns himself to his next move.

“Yeaaaah…” He says with a consoling voice, his face a bit sad, “I don’t actually know anything about that…sorry.”

In response, Cha Cha backhands him across the face, the force of it causing his head to swing to the side. A surprised “Ugh!” escapes his mouth at the moment of impact, and he stares at Ben standing off to the side for a split second before the pain truly hits and he screws his eyes closed. After a moment, he faces Cha Cha again, sullenly muttering, “Well that escalated quickly…”

“Oh, that was nothin’.” Cha Cha says, casually.

“Hey-Hey, look, I’d love to be of assistance, really. But I got nothing.” He forces the smile back on his face.

Hazel, standing next to Cha Cha, chimes in. “What were you doing at the mansion?”

Klaus looks down at himself and back up to Hazel. “Taking a bath?” He huffs out half a chuckle and smirks slightly.

Hazel scowls, “Don’t be a smart ass. You live there?”

Klaus says “Well…not exactly, no.” He says contemplatively. “It’s…iffy…”

Hazel breathes forcefully out of his nose in frustration. Cha Cha backhands Klaus again. “Oww” he whines softly.

Cha Cha says “That wasn’t an answer.”

“Ok, ok. Sorry… I - I don’t…..” Klaus suddenly realizes he in dangerous area here. If he starts telling them truths now, he might let something slip that he shouldn’t. Something that could get his family hurt. He either needs a fake story, or to clam up and not say anything at all. Which one is likely to get him hurt the least? He reasons that acting like he’s cooperating will hurt less than silence. Ok.

“Answer the question.” Hazel demands, stepping forward threateningly.

“No I don’t live there!” Klaus blurts out in a single breath.

Cha Cha turns to Hazel, “Would you be walking around in a bathtowel in a house you didn’t live in?” She asks him sarcastically, then turns her head back towards Klaus.

Klaus looks back and forth between them briefly, then explains further, “Well, I mean, I don’t live there. I was…. I just…. I visit. Occasionally.”

Cha Cha turns fully back to Klaus and pulls her arm back to hit him again.

“Hey! Whoa-wait! You don’t have to hit me… c’mon! I’m trying here!” He pulls back, shrinking away from her as best he can in a chair.

“…trying to what?” Hazel mutters, clearly irritated. But Cha Cha puts her arm back down, to Klaus’s relief.

Cha Cha decides to give the scrawny kid one chance, and says “Show me how hard you’re ‘trying’ then. What the hell does ‘you visit occasionally’ mean?”

“Well. I just..... I-I’m,” he flounders, “I’m uh- a burglar.” 

From the corner of his eye, Klaus glimpses Ben drop his face into his open palm in exasperation. But, he continues anyway, laughing out a “Yeah!” Then continuing, “I was going to rob the place. But then a nice bath seemed like a better idea!” He looks far too pleased with himself.

Cha Cha puts her hands on her hips, incensed. “Are you _seriously_ trying to...”

Hazel sighs loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose, and says “Kid, I’m not sure you’re grasping the severity of your situation here.”

Klaus’s smile slides off and he grimaces then, knowing he’s made a mistake. “Ok-Fine. Sorry, sorry. I just…I panicked a little bit there...I mean, c’mon you can’t blame me!” He huffs out another laugh.

Cha cha leans forward, putting their faces closer than Klaus is comfortable with. He leans back as much as he can, but can’t pull away from her any further. “I was being nice there, giving you a chance. You don’t want me to stop being nice. Trust me.”

“I believe you one hundred and ten percent.” Klaus says, sincerity and regret in his voice, “But I mean, I still don’t have answers for you.” He drags out a whispered, “sorrrrry…”

Cha cha stands up, moving out of Klaus’s space. “It doesn’t matter. You were there.” She points her finger at Klaus for emphasis. “You know Five!” She accuses. “You’re gonna help us find him!”

Klaus looks at the floor, avoiding her eyes, choosing instead to study a crumb on the floor with a pained look on his face. Oh look! Such an interesting crumb all of the sudden! Anything to distract himself from whatever Cha Cha’s about to throw at him.

He doesn’t have to wait long before Cha Cha backhands him angrily, then smacks him with an open hand then backhands him again. He cringes, trying to pull away from the onslaught, but Cha Cha reaches out and grabs his chin. She pulls his face forward painfully and turns it up to look into her pink puppy-dog face. Klaus’s eyes are squeezed shut and his cheek burns.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” she demands. He blinks his eyes rapidly, then settles them on her. “You know Five,” she spits at him. He tries to shake his head no, but can barely move it. Her grip on his chin loosens then, immediately sliding down to the crook between his jaw and his neck. In the blink of an eye, Klaus goes from being pulled forward by his chin to being slammed back in the chair. A high pitched “Hrk!” escapes his throat when his back hits the chair, and his body bows backwards awkwardly. Cha Cha holds him in this strained position, choking against the pressure on his neck. She moves closer to his face and slowly hisses “You’re gonna help us find Five.” while the sounds of Klaus choking and gasping for breath fill the room. Cha Cha pushes harder then, her other hand coming up to lend additional strength to her grip on his neck. The chair tips back onto two legs and Klaus’s legs spasm, trying to regain his suddenly lost sense of balance.

Cha Cha holds him there for another moment, watching his face. Klaus’s eyes are squeezed shut, unshed tears shining in the corners of his eyes, mouth opening and closing as he sucks in shallow, wheezing breaths. His body is taut, his fists clenched, his knuckles white. She releases him suddenly, removing her hand and stepping back in one smooth motion. The chair falls forward, and Klaus’s momentum folds him forward as the front legs of the chair hit the ground. His head flies down towards his knees, and he comes back up into a hunched forward position as he’s lost in a coughing fit.

While he’s still leaning forward coughing, Cha Cha twists her fingers in the hair on the back of his head and pushes it down harshly. His cough sputters out and he grunts in surprise. With his arms taped to the chair arms, and his bare feet planted on the floor, Cha Cha pushing his head down to his knees is a painfully uncomfortable position. His shoulders protest the odd angle, his neck and spine scream against the stretch. He grimaces where neither of them can see, taking quick breaths.

“Talk!” Cha Cha screams suddenly, causing Klaus to flinch.

He grunts again, and tries unsuccessfully to squirm into a more comfortable position. “O -Okay! I used-I used to live at the mansion!” He gasps out. “I used to! It-it was a long time ago. I don’t know Five. I don’t!” Klaus can’t see much from this vantage, looking at the chair peeking from between his legs, and the bath towel draped there. He tells himself this is a harmless bit of information to give up. Why not supply tidbits that don’t get them any closer to Five?

Cha Cha applies more pressure, causing Klaus to yelp breathlessly as it feels like he’s being folded in half. She releases him after a few moments, and he flies up taking a deep breath. Cha Cha and Hazel stare smoothly in his direction from a few steps away. He watches them warily, settling back into his seated position, rolling his neck and shoulders with a small groan of relief. After a few moments consideration, Cha Cha unemotionally says “He’s lying. You want a go?” Hazel shrugs his shoulders, and Cha Cha steps forward. Klaus watches Cha Cha cautiously, and leans away from her as she walks past him, out of sight. Quickly turning his head back to Hazel when Cha Cha is out of view, he starts “I’m not-” but is cut off by Hazel holding out his hand and saying “Shhhh shh shh.” 

Klaus swallows his words but remains tense with the imminent promise of pain, watching Hazel and listening for movement from Cha Cha. He doesn’t trust her back there, out of sight.

Hazel takes a few moments, then begins, “You used to live there. Okay. Sure. So what were you doing there today?” Klaus opens his mouth but Hazel quickly holds up his finger and amends, “-and don’t you DARE say ‘taking a bath’.”

Hazel crosses his arms expectantly and Klaus takes a deep breath to collect himself. He looks Hazel straight in the face to answer. “I just stay there sometimes…when I’m in the area. The…the lady who owns the place. She gives me a free room for a night or two.” He keeps his face serious the whole time, oozing honesty and sincerity with every word. He thinks it’s a believable lie. He’d believe it if he didn’t know anything about the mansion. Oh god, what do they know about the mansion?? What do they know about the Academy??

Hazel suddenly backhands Klaus, significantly harder than Cha Cha had. Klaus grunts in surprise and his upper body swings to the side with the force of it. Klaus stays lolled to the side for several seconds. “Owww…” he groans with his eyes squeezed shut.

When Klaus doesn’t immediately come back to face him, Hazel reaches out and roughly brings him back to center with a hand on this face. When Klaus’s eyes are back on him, he calmly asks “What were you doing at the mansion?”

“I just told you!” Klaus exclaims in a pleading voice. Hazel wallops him again, on the other side of his face this time. Again, Klaus stays slumped to the side.

Hazel brings him back to center and asks again, but Klaus just manages a pitiful whine this time before Hazel hits him. Slumped over weakly, Klaus’s ears ring. His eyes suddenly won’t focus and his head sways back and forth from the dizziness taking residence in his mistreated brain. This isn’t an entirely unfamiliar feeling for him, but it’s distinctly lacking the euphoria he’s accustomed to. Heroin is quite a remarkable drug, after all. He takes a brief moment to thank his lucky stars that he took a hit a few hours before these two nabbed him. He doesn’t even want to imagine what it might be like to experience this sober. He vaguely realizes that Hazel is saying something, and tries to focus his muddled brain.

Hazel smacks his cheek lightly a few times, “Hey! You still with us?” Klaus blinks heavily a few times, the swaying subsides.

“R-right as… rain…” Klaus responds and swallows thickly. Hazel’s blue mask suddenly comes into focus far too close to his face and Klaus’s head jerks back in surprise. “Christ!… don’t do that…” he cries, trying to blink away the blurriness in his vision.

Hazel stands back up from where he’d been quietly checking Klaus’s pupils. Concussions don’t usually make for chatty subjects. He’ll lay off the kid’s head for a few minutes.

“What’s her name?” He asks suddenly.

“What?” Klaus asks, perplexed.

Hazel intends to poke holes in Klaus’s story, looking for inconsistencies he can leverage against him. “The lady who owns the place.”

Klaus closes his eyes and tries again to sort out his thoughts, shaking his head lightly. What had he told Hazel again? Oh, right, right. “Grace,” he says. “Her name’s Grace.”

Hazel watches Klaus closely. “And what about the others?”

Klaus’s world is coming in to focus now, his brain settling down again. “What? What others?”

Hazel says “The others in the house. You really gonna try telling me you don’t know anything about them?”

Klaus didn’t realize Hazel and Cha Cha had seen anyone else in the mansion. If they saw his siblings, and aren’t asking about them by name, they must not know anything about the Academy at all. Klaus knits his eyebrows together and shakes his head. “If Grace let’s other people stay there, I don’t know anything about ‘em. That’s on her.” He’s not technically throwing his mom under the bus, he tells himself. She can protect herself, she’s a robot. She’s been acting a little weird, but he knows she wouldn’t mind him using her name to protect himself. Right?

Hazel stretches his back languidly and cracks his knuckles. He’s getting the feeling this entire story is bullshit. But maybe there are some kernels of truth he can get out, which will lead to Five, and to the end of this stupid mission. “Funny thing though…” he begins, nonchalantly.

Klaus’a head nods forward in disappointment and he glances up at Hazel warily through his eyelashes. He can already tell Hazel’s not really buying this story.

“The rooms weren’t like hotel rooms someone might rent out. They were kids’ bedrooms.” He leans down into Klaus’s space, putting his hands on Klaus’s wrists and leaning on them. Klaus leans back as far as he can, and holds his breath, all attention focused on Hazel’s blue bear mask of a face. “So…you’re lying to me.” He says smoothly, then moves back just enough to lunge forward, punching Klaus in the stomach. The chair scoots back an inch or two, and Klaus doubles over with a grunt as all the air is forced out of him. His face anguished, he barely registers as Hazel walks out of his narrowed field of vision.

Klaus coughs and sputters for several minutes, gasping air back into his lungs a few small mouthfuls at a time. Groaning in pain, he stays hunched forward in the chair. Gut-punches are painful, and take some time to recover from.

Eventually Hazel and Cha Cha reappear in front of him. Cha Cha says “So let’s start at the beginning.” When Klaus doesn’t look up and meet her eyes, she grabs the hair at the top of his head and forces his pained face up to meet hers. “You lived at the mansion a long time ago.” She says, and releases his head. He wisely keeps his eyes on her this time, and nods once, silently. Cha Cha accepts his answer and moves on, “You know the lady who owns the place.” Klaus nods again, hesitantly. Cha Cha continues, “So, she own the place back when you lived there?” Klaus lets his eyes wander to the left a bit, not sure how to respond, what could they infer from his answer? Cha Cha doesn’t give him time to think it through, she smacks him across the face saying “Don’t think! Just answer!” He hisses in pain, and nods again wretchedly, immediately wishing he hadn’t. “So one of those kids’ rooms belonged to you then. You were a kid when you lived there.”

Klaus shuts his eyes and rolls his shoulder, trying to bring his shaking breath under control. He’s trying not to reveal too much. The narrative that he’d set up, that he knew the owner vaguely, didn’t match up with the idea of living there a long time ago, or the kids bedrooms. Shit. Now he’s gotta invent a plausible explanation for that, and for not knowing his own siblings. Coming up short, he starts by just shaking his head “no”. It’s getting difficult to keep what they currently know, what he’s going to tell them, and what he’s already told them all straight in his head.

“No what?” Cha Cha asks, frustrated, and backhands him.

Klaus grunts with the impact. “No, I… I wasn’t a kid…no” he says, finally speaking.

Hazel skeptically comments, “You aren’t that old. What’s “a long time ago” when you’ve only been an adult for… what five years? Ten?”

Looking for any possible distraction from this nightmare, Klaus can’t help but chuckle, “Aww, you flatter me! I guess that wrinkle cream is really working!” 

Hazel smacks Klaus on the side of the head, causing Klaus to flinch away from him and go quiet. He’d forgotten that a little levity can indeed get someone hurt. But after a moment, he decides it was worth it.

Cha Cha is not amused, and seems to conclude that his answer meant the exact opposite of what he’d said. “So, you were a kid, living there with the others when they were kids,” she says to Klaus. Then she turns to Hazel and says, “Sounds like a happy little freak family to me,” as if a realization had just come over her. She gestures with her head, and they both seem to forget Klaus exists entirely. Klaus watches their backs retreat as they walk into the bathroom of the motel room and the door closes cutting off any sound of their voices.

 

 

***

 

Klaus hangs his head and exhales a long “Fuuuuuuuuuck” before turning to face Ben. “The fuck do I do Ben?!” he asks, voice full of frustration and misery.

Ben shrugs, “You just have to keep them busy.” Klaus shakes his head and sighs a deep, weary sigh. Ben continues with a suddenly urgent voice, “And you can’t give them anything about Five! He’s just a kid…”

“I know that!” Klaus spits, then immediately repents, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m-I’m glad you’re here, ok?” And then, under his breath, “This would be worse without you…”

Ben nods knowingly, forgiving Klaus instantly. 

Klaus rolls his shoulders, then leans forward testing to see if he could possibly stand up since only his arms are tied. No such luck with the shape of this particular chair. He switches to looking all around the room for anything he might use to escape. He twists around to see the rest of the room behind him. He scans past two full size beds, one made the other unmade, and his eyes rest on the motel phone sitting on the table between them. It’s directly behind him. Maybe he could scoot backwards? Just as he’s gearing up to try, he hears the bathroom door opening and immediately resumes a relaxed position in the chair, looking at the floor directly in front of him.

Hazel and Cha Cha appear to be adjusting their masks as they walk in, pulling them down into place. Klaus takes some slow deep breaths to calm himself. Everything will be ok. He’s been in worse situations than this. It’s the feeling of not being in control of the situation that tugs at his panic, moreso than the pain. Pain can be good sometimes, with the right partner. In this situation, it’s not so great, but so far there’s no permanent damage. He just needs to keep it that way.

Cha Cha walks over to Klaus, while Hazel hangs back a little. She stops in front of him, and he looks up at her, his throat tight. He’ll not give her the chance to punish him for ignoring her again. Cha Cha makes a small note of that obedience, and files it away for later. She crosses and uncrosses her arms, paces back and forth in front of him for a while, taking her time. When she finally speaks, Klaus startles ever so slightly. “The others in the mansion. The big guy. The knife-thrower. The light-skinned girl.” She pauses, glancing past Klaus to Hazel and asks “Was there another one?”

Hazel sighs and responds, “Yeah…uh…short, white girl. Dark hair.”

Cha Cha nods and continues, “Them. And Five. And You. Y’all grew up together in that big-ass mansion.”

Klaus shakes his head vehemently. “No. I don’t know them. You got it wrong.”

She jumps forward and puts her hand on his throat, applying light pressure. A warning. Her face close to his.

Klaus’s breath hitches in his throat, but he repeats “…y-you got it wrong,” quieter this time.

There’s a long pause before Cha Cha stands back up, releasing Klaus’s neck roughly. She immediately swings her arm back and backhands him harshly. “I don’t think so,” she says, Klaus’s head still twisted painfully to the side. “We’re getting Five outta you, one way or another. 

Hazel chimes in “…we don’t care about the others, Kid. We only want Five.”

Cha Cha hits Klaus again, and when he doesn’t say anything, hits him again. She stands in front of him with her arms on her hips, leaving an empty silence for Klaus to fill. Klaus is turning all the possibilities over in his head, trying to figure out what to say next while Cha Cha waits. She doesn’t wait long, and he suffers for it, but he’s torn. What information to concede, what to hold close, it’s like a puzzle to solve. When he remains silent, Cha Cha hits him several times in rapid succession, until he’s twisting and pulling away from her within the confines of his chair.

“S-stop! M’sorry!” He cries, breathing hard, tears threatening.

Cha Cha pauses, shaking her wrist lightly. “Tell me something about Five, maybe I will.”

Klaus shakes his head angrily, “…don’t-“ he pants “…know-”

He doesn’t get any farther, Cha Cha cuts him off with a particularly hard blow to the side of his head. Klaus slumps to the side, the dizziness from earlier making a sudden return. His head throbs, and a wave of nausea flows over him. “Uuuhg…” he moans squeezing his eyes shut against the spinning room.

Cha Cha grabs his chin and pulls his anguished face upwards. He’s so dazed, he offers no resistance at all. Cha Cha orders him to open his eyes, and he does so, carefully. Cha Cha checks his pupils and seeing the early signs of concussion, she drops her hand from his face letting it fall forward loosely.

She steps back, taking a deep breath and deliberately relaxing her posture. Cha Cha leans back against the dresser in front of Klaus’s chair, getting comfortable, and thinks back on her training with regards to torture. Klaus’s disoriented state reminds her of an exercise from section 76 of the commission handbook. After a few minutes silence, she says “Let’s try something different” to Klaus, who’s head is swaying back and forth lightly as he hunches forward. When he doesn’t immediately respond, she continues, “Hey, you listening? Tell me where you were born.”

Confusion slowly appears on Klaus’s face, and he tries to look at her, abandoning the effort after finding his eyes won’t focus. He pauses, then chuckles. He’s not sure what the point of this new line of questioning is, but it’s not about Five, so he figures what’s the harm in answering. “Uhh…Germ’ny?”

Cha Cha tucks that piece of information away, and continues with her seemingly random line of questioning. The point of this little exercise is to take advantage of Klaus’s disoriented state to get him desensitized to answering her questions. “Favorite food?”

Klaus shakes his head slightly, still finding this funny, and fully enjoying the current lack of violence. “Toss up…I guess… ’tween waffles ….an’ bir’day cake” He vaguely recognizes that he’s slurring his words, and a quiet part of his brain says ‘Uh oh! That’s not good!” He swallows against another wave of nausea.

“What’s your address?” Cha Cha continues.

“Don’ have one…” Klaus immediately replies, smiling, and lightly shaking his head back and forth which forces his eyes to close against the spinning room.

“See, this is nice. Isn’t it?” Cha Cha asks in her most pleasant voice. “I ask, you answer, nobody gets hurt.”

Klaus nods his head, too dazed to come up with a witty response, but he can think of several places he’d rather be that are much nicer.

“You a reader? Got a favorite book?”

Klaus grins a lopsided, wicked grin with his eyes still closed, “always enjoyed th’ Kama Su-Sutra…”

Cha Cha doesn’t rise to that challenge, and moves on, “Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?”

Klaus’s eyebrows knit together in thought for a moment, “…dunno.” He answers finally. “Can’t r’member” He looks up at her warily, leaning back, expecting her to push him for an answer.

Cha Cha just waves her hand, saying “That’s fine. Let’s do an easier one.” She continues the exercise, “What’s your middle name?”

Klaus’s eyes slide closed and his smile returns in relief, “Don’ have one!” He laughs then continues, “This’s fun! I feel like we’re best-est buds now! Do I get t’ ask one?” he drawls.

Ben suddenly says “Klaus,” drawing his attention over to the right of where Cha Cha is leaning. Klaus opens his eyes to try and focus on Ben. “Klaus she’s tricking you. Be careful.”

Klaus feels a pang of annoyance at Ben for ruining his brief happy, even if it was completely false. “Yeah yeah yeah…” he mutters in no particular direction.

Cha Cha chocks his odd ramble up to the concussion, and doesn’t comment on it. She continues, “What about your favorite color? Must have one of those.”

Klaus’s smile returns and he replies “Rainbows!” in a sing-song voice.

“That’s not a color…” Hazel mutters from behind him.

Cha Cha clears her throat at Hazel harshly. But Klaus just smiles and says, “I’m not lim’ted by yer def’nition a’ colors.”

Cha Cha then asks “When’s your birthday? You a Pisces? You seem like a Pisces.” She’s watching him very closely now, but feigning disinterest.

“No no no…” Klaus counters, upset at the assumption. “No. Imma Libra.”

“Klaus…” Ben says by way of warning.

Klaus’s head has started to clear slightly during the conversation. He hears Ben, but chooses not to respond, and instead takes the opportunity to question Cha Cha back. “I bet you’re an Aries.” He chuckles, “I wouldn’t be s’prized…”

“Why you know an Aries? Maybe you got an Aries in the family?” Cha Cha asks easily.

Klaus laughs, it’s funny she really thinks that’s going to work! He smiles, looking up at her pink puppy-dog face, “Nooo, I w’s an only child back in Germ’ny.” His eyes finally focus, thank goodness. “An orphan too!” He insists, his face open and shining.

“That’s bullshit.” Cha Cha says, her voice betraying the crack in her calm.

Klaus laughs at that, grimacing when it makes his head throb, but still laughing.

Cha Cha pauses for several minutes. Staring at Klaus, thinking and observing. She tries to steer the conversation in a new direction. “Before your bath yesterday,” she gestures to his towel, “What did you do right before your bath?”

Klaus doesn’t like the way she’s trying to put him at ease and trick him into giving her what she wants. The vindictive part of his heart feels like throwing her off balance in return. Maybe even take back a little control of the situation, even if just for a while. So, he tries to unsettle her. “Rubbed one out.” he says evenly, looking at her with absolutely no shame.

She doesn’t bite, just smoothly moves on, asking, “Before that?”

His grin widens to Cheshire Cat proportions and he shrugs, “Dinner I guess.”

“What’d you have?” She asks cautiously, because it’s clear he’s up to something.

He can’t wipe the devious grin off his face, but there’s a long pause before he deadpans “Cock.” He only keeps his composure for half a second, then snorts and dissolves into laughter.

Cha Cha stands, and in one smooth motion the sole of her boot connects forcefully with his chest. Klaus grunts as all the air leaves his chest from the kick landing solidly, then has the sensation of falling backwards before his head explodes in pain and darkness overtakes him.

Cha Cha stands over the fallen man and chair, her fists clenched and breathing hard.

Hazel looks at Cha Cha, then at Klaus, unmoving on the floor. He waits a beat before moving from where he’s seated on the bed, then slowly reaches down to place two fingers to Klaus’s neck. After a moment Hazel pulls his hand back. “Just unconscious” he says quietly, to no one in particular. He pulls his mask off, and lifts his feet up onto the bed, reclining. “Want a pizza?” He knows Cha Cha well enough by now not to poke at her when she looses her cool. She didn’t kill the kid, no real harm done.

Cha Cha takes a deep inhale followed by a long noisy exhale, then pulls up her own mask as she turns to sit on the edge of the other bed. She rests her elbows on her knees and fixes her eyes in front of her, staring at nothing. “Yeah, I guess.” She replies after a moment.

 

***


	2. Chapter 2

Pizza having arrived a while ago, Hazel and Cha Cha are now lying on their respective beds, staring at the tv but not really watching it. From the floor, Klaus groans quietly, eyebrows shifting towards each other in agitation. Hazel glances down at him, then takes another oversized bite of his pizza and pulls his mask down over his face. Cha Cha pulls hers down as well, but doesn’t acknowledge Klaus otherwise. Neither of them moves from their relatively comfortable positions, no sense in it just yet. Cha Cha seems intent on ignoring Klaus as best she can, and Hazel can hardly blame her. Klaus had gotten under her skin.

Klaus regains consciousness very slowly. It starts with a vague awareness of pain in his head, then a murky understanding of pain in his chest and back, then he’s more fully aware as he realizes his legs are numb. He takes a breath and coughs lightly, then moans and starts gently moving his neck around, trying to lift his hands to his face. He’s alarmed by the resistance on his hands, but years of experience have taught him to go still instead of panicking. Finally blinking his eyes open to squint, he attempts to slowly lift his head off the floor, and has to try twice before he’s successful. Once he’s able to see his arms taped to the chair, he notices his towel-clad body, and the hotel room around him comes into focus. Realization of where he is and why comes rushing back, along with a twisting anxiety deep in the pit of his stomach. His eyes suddenly focus on Ben sitting nearby, and Klaus sighs at him in relief. Ben says “welcome back” softly, and Klaus lowers his aching head back to the floor letting his eyes fall closed again.

Klaus doesn’t immediately remember why he’s on the floor, and racks his brain for a moment to figure it out. He opens his eyes to glance around himself for answers. Ben seems to read his mind, and says “You pissed her off, man.” With that clue, Klaus remembers goading Cha Cha and huffs out a single, pained laugh as he realizes Cha Cha must’ve knocked him out. Maybe don’t provoke Cha Cha, he tells himself. Christ, he should already have known that.

Klaus starts looking around from his vantage on the floor as his vision clears. He needs to find a way out of this before things get worse. He recognizes that he’s laying between the two beds in the room, then realizes the two assassins are lying on their beds on either side of him. He closes his eyes again and groans. He had hoped his tormentors had left while he was unconscious. Not for the first time tonight, he finds himself wishing for a hit, or a joint, or a drink. He would give almost anything to numb himself to this misery. But, after a moment’s effort he calms his irritation, and when he finally trusts his voice enough, he says “Heeeey guys…” gingerly.

After no acknowledgment from either of them, he continues looking around for clues to escape. He looks under the motel beds, nothing but dust and what appears to be a used condom. Ew. He gives up and decides to just rest his eyes for a few more minutes. It would be so nice to just sleep for a while, but his back hurts where the chair is pushing into it. He abruptly realizes he needs to use the bathroom. So, he tries again in his most miserable, pouting voice, “My feet are asleep and I need to pee.”

Hazel looks over at Cha Cha in response to Klaus’s plea, and she waves her hand at him without looking. It seems she’s not ready to deal with the kid just yet. He sighs lightly and pulls himself to his feet, standing over Klaus. He looks down at the frowning man, and rests his hands on his hips, silently chiding him. Hazel is perfectly content to make Klaus wait. Klaus stares up at him then starts to squirm a little as the moments stretch on. He looks away, uncertain, then looks back to Hazel, as if considering something.

“What?” Hazel asks.

Klaus thinks for a quick moment, then answers, “I can’t tell whether to be turned on or terrified when you stand over me like this…”

Hazel scoffs in response, and shakes his head.

He reaches down and lifts Klaus and his chair into an upright position. Klaus groans in pain as his battered head comes up. His back is probably bruised where it rested on the edge of the chair, and his feet are completely numb below the knee from dangling off the edge of the chair-seat while he was out. He hunches forward and tries not to be sick, moaning lightly waiting for his head to clear. Hazel walks around in front of him and grabs the boxcutter off the dresser. He pushes Klaus’s shoulder backwards so he’s sitting up, and can look up at Hazel. Hazel says “I’m gonna cut you loose and get you to the toilet. You try anything, you’re gonna be bleeding. Got it?”

Klaus’s eyes slide closed and he nods lightly as he mumbles, “Yeah-yessir.”

Hazel pushes out a tiny bit of blade and slices through the tape on Klaus’s left wrist. The tape rips away as Klaus pulls his arm away from the chair arm. He only briefly shows the pain of the tape ripping at him before he’s gratefully rolling his wrist with a groan of relief. He brings his hand up to clutch the towel at his chest while Hazel frees his right arm. Once free, he does the same wrist roll and reaches up to scratch his nose. “Christ your face never itches more than when you can’t scratch it,” he says weakly. He reaches back to touch the throbbing bump on the back of his head and checks his fingers for blood. Nothing, good.

Hazel grabs his upper arm and starts to lift him out of the chair. “H-hey, wait a tick my legs are still asleep...” Klaus begs, but Hazel continues pulling Klaus to an unsteady, standing position. Klaus is forced to grab onto Hazel and lock his knees together in an effort to stay upright on his tingling, useless legs. Thankfully, Hazel pauses while Klaus grimaces, bowing his head at the cramping pain of his lower extremities suddenly waking. “Argh…that is just...” He involuntarily clenches his hand in Hazel’s sleeve. After a few seconds, Hazel starts pulling Klaus towards the bathroom. Klaus releases Hazel’s arm and stiffly shuffles along. His knees only fail him once, but Hazel keeps a tight grip on Klaus’s bicep so he doesn’t fall. Hazel opens the bathroom door, guiding Klaus in ahead of himself, and pushes Klaus in front of the toilet, never letting go of his arm.

Klaus, clutching his towel, looks down at the toilet in front of him, then over at Hazel’s hand gripping his arm, then up at Hazel’s face expectantly.

“Piss.” Hazel grunts.

Klaus closes his eyes and sighs. He should have expected as much. No sense in arguing about it. He hikes up the front of his bath towel just enough, and relieves himself. He uses this brief time to glance out the corner of his eye to see if there’s anything in the bathroom he can use to escape. Nothing obvious. He glances at Hazel, who’s dutifully looking elsewhere. “How long was I out?” he asks Hazel, to keep him preoccupied.

“Doesn’t matter.” He answers shortly. Not in the habit of sharing information, and not willing to alleviate Klaus’s unease.

“That long huh?” Klaus replies easily.

Klaus finishes up just then, and pulls the towel back down reaching to flush the toilet, which Hazel allows. Klaus reaches for the soap at the sink, but Hazel pulls him past the sink, out of the bathroom. Klaus’s muttered “aw gross...c’mon” is completely ignored.

Hazel pulls Klaus out of the bathroom, and starts back towards the chair at the center of the room. Klaus’s eyes come to rest on the chair waiting for him, and without warning he breaks out in a cold sweat and his throat closes up. The thought of going back to that chair has him feeling faint with fear all of a sudden. In the chair he’s at their mercy, and they seem to have none. Klaus’s feet involuntarily move slower, then his legs start to lock up, and he says “hey, maybe...maybe we could just...” But Hazel is already putting a second hand on Klaus’s shoulders, steering him forward from behind. Klaus’s legs absolutely refuse to walk him back to that chair, and he instinctively throws his weight backwards against Hazel’s body. “I just…just wait! Wait!…I-I don’t think...” Klaus feels himself being overtaken by the expanding panic rising up into his throat, choking him with dread.

Cha Cha sits up on the far bed, swinging her legs to the ground, ready but waiting to see how the situation will unfold.

Hazel grunts against Klaus’s resistant body, but takes another step forward pushing Klaus closer to the chair.

Ben suddenly appears close to Klaus, saying “Klaus! Calm down! You’re ok! You’re ok!”

But Klaus is beyond reaching with words, even by his brother. Seeing the chair getting closer, his babbling takes on a pitch of desperation, “just, just don’t...please-please!…c’mon please!” He fists a hand in Hazel’s suit, twisting his body around, away from the chair, saying “just- just-”

Hazel catches Klaus’s forearm and squeezes hard, grinding the bones together. Klaus howls in pain, his knees going weak, and his hand releases the material of Hazel’s jacket almost instantly. Hazel quickly takes the last two steps, dragging Klaus backwards and pushing him down into the chair.

Once Klaus is roughly seated, Hazel remains standing directly in front of the chair, his body keeping Klaus there. Klaus’s whole body remains taught like a spring that’s pulled too far. He turns his head to the side, away from Hazel, squeezing his eyes shut and breathing hard. Ben stands there, whispering calming words directly into Klaus’s ear. After a moment, Klaus jerks his arms away from Hazel angrily. Hazel releases them and Klaus folds them tightly in front of his chest, his entire body tense and shaking. Klaus keeps his eyes closed, breathing hard. Ben continues speaking softly next to Klaus’s ear, “It’s ok Klaus, you’re ok. It’s just a chair. You can do this. You’re doing so well. Keeping your family safe. You can do this a little longer. Just breath. Breath in. Breath out.”

Hazel stands there for a minute, arms hanging ready at his sides, until Klaus’s breathing starts to slow a bit.

Klaus curves forward and bows his head, bringing his palms up to press into his damp eyes. He takes a long shaky breath in Ben’s direction.

At that sign of calming, Hazel steps back and grabs the tape from the dresser. The screeching sound the tape makes when he pulls some off makes Klaus jump then exhale bitterly. He fiercely re-folds his arms in front of him, scowling at the empty air in front of him.

Hazel crouches down in front of Klaus, holding the tape, and looks at him expectantly. “You gonna put your arms back, or I gotta make ya?” He asks lightly, as if Klaus didn’t just have a panic attack in his arms.

Ben stands, “You’ve got this Klaus. You’ve been tied up plenty of times, you’re doing just fine. It’s going to be ok.”

Klaus stares at the wall for another second, then clenches his jaw and closes his eyes. With seemingly monumental effort, he forces himself to put his arms on the arm rests. His fists are clenched turning his knuckles white. It’s stark against the bruising that’s already forming on his forearm where Hazel squeezed it. Hazel begins tightly wrapping the tape around each wrist, securing him to the chair.

As Hazel is wrapping, he notices what appears to be a tattoo on Klaus’s wrist. Realizing it’s an umbrella, Hazel’s heart skips a beat. The same umbrella emblazoned on the front gates of the mansion? The same umbrella tattoo Five himself has on his own arm? That’s exactly the bit of intel they needed to crack this kid, he’s sure of it. Hazel grins inwardly. He’s impatient for this assignment to be over so they can finally get out of here. Finishing with the tape, he stands up and takes a step back. He’s smiling behind his mask, but wants to use this information in the most strategic way possible, which means telling Cha Cha before anything else. She’s the best with this kind of stuff.

With the restraints back in place, Hazel steps out of his space. Klaus takes a forceful breath and attempts to exhale all the tension out of his body. An old trick he learned in therapy. He consciously forces his fists to open and relax, he rolls his shoulders, and compels the scowl off his face. He owes Ben for talking him down, but this isn’t the time to thank him. He knows he needs to make light of his distress before his captors have a chance to hold it against him. It takes a moment, but he pushes all the fear and desperation he’s feeling down and down until it’s successfully buried in the deepest pit of his mind. He’s had a lot of practice at this.

“I did not see that coming!” He suddenly proclaims with a light, airy voice. He forces himself to chuckle a bit. “Gee, I hope I don’t have a fear of chairs after this!” He looks up to Hazel, conversationally asking, “Is there even a word for that? Fear of chairs? Chair-phobia? Does that sound right to you?”

Hazel has to do a double-take after the 180 he just witnessed. Looking at Klaus now, the tears still drying on his face are the only evidence of the panic attack he’d just suffered. “…yeah. Yeah that sounds about right,” he says cautiously. He raises his hand to get Cha Cha’s attention, then points to the bathroom. She quietly stands and they both walk past Klaus into the bathroom. 

 

***

 

As soon as the door is closed, Klaus sighs and visibly deflates. Ben is crouching in front of him almost immediately, “You ok man?”

Klaus huffs out a humorless laugh, and pointedly doesn’t answer. But, after a moment, he whispers “…thanks Ben.” The worry in Ben’s face looks so out of place, it unsettles Klaus. He doesn’t like it, he decides after a moment, and determines to keep up a brave face for Ben.

“I’m fine, okay? I’m fine.” He laughs a little. “And, hey, you know damn well this isn’t like the other times I’ve been tied up.” He looks Ben pointedly in the eyes. “And you weren’t supposed to be watching those other times." 

Ben smirks guiltily and just shrugs, thankful to see Klaus is still able to disguise his fear. He needs to do that for these assassins, and if he still can, Ben has hope that he can get through this ordeal.

Klaus laughs again and shakes his head. He looks down for a moment, then balls up his fists experimentally, and pulls at the tape with all his strength to see if there’s any give. The restrains don’t budge, but the strain helps him feel like he’s doing something useful. He gives up after a moment, and turns around remembering the phone on the nightstand. “Maybe I can call 911 on that phone…” 

“Yeah, good idea. Can you get over there?” Ben asks.

Klaus immediately starts wiggling and jumping his body in the seat, using his feet to move the chair backwards towards the phone. He makes it after a few minutes of effort, and realizes he doesn’t have hands to pick up and dial with. He reaches his head down and dislodges the phone from the receiver with his chin. He’s about to start smashing the buttons with his nose when the bathroom door opens and his two tormentors walk back into the room.

“Shit!” He curses, turning to meet them with wide, guilty eyes.

Hazel rushes over and grabs his chair, dragging it away from the table. “Tsk tsk tsk!” he scolds, pulling the chair back to the center of the room. Klaus watches the receding phone with dismay, that may have been his only chance. Cha Cha walks past them both and rips the phone line out of the wall, tossing the phone onto the floor near the bathroom. Hazel swings back and punches Klaus in the stomach before Klaus can even say anything, causing him to crumple over in pain. “We won’t be doing that again, now will we?” He asks in a faux-friendly voice, after standing up to his full height.

Klaus struggles for breath, bent over in his chair, but shakes his head frantically.

Hazel returns to his seat on the bed, behind a slowly recovering Klaus, which leaves Cha Cha alone standing in front of Klaus.

“Well.” She says, clearly already annoyed with him.

Klaus is still coughing and struggling to catch his breath, but leans himself back a bit, slouching in the chair, to see Cha Cha.

She looks at his anguished face and conversationally says “We’re learning so much about you tonight, aren’t we?”

“Hey I can’t help being so interesting…” he croaks. Then, with a deep breath and slightly more composure, “I’d be happy to tell you all about what I had for breakfast yesterday, and who my celebrity crush is, and how I like my eggs cooked, and-”

“Are you trying to piss me off?” She interjects.

Klaus smiles a little, and says “I promise I’m really not. I think that’s just my natural personality.”

After a short pause, she says “How do we find Number Five?”

Klaus sighs, and lets his head fall forward, discouraged. “Back to that old favorite huh?” But when she steps forward threateningly, he hurriedly looks up at her and blurts “I don’t know! Okay?! I don’t know where he is!”

“But you know who I’m talking about.” She says, stopping her advance. “You know him.”

“…no. No! I don’t know anything!” Klaus has insisted ignorance for so long now, it rolls naturally right off his tongue now.

Cha Cha turns and walks the two steps to the dresser, grabbing the box cutter. She turns back to Klaus and casually holds it up in front of her, slowly sliding about an inch of the blade out. Klaus’s eyes lock on to the blade and don’t budge. His jaw clenches and his mouth goes dry. “Now… now wait…” he says softly, swallowing his fear as best he can.

Cha Cha steps forward, holding the blade comfortably in front of her. “I want to hear Every. Single. Thing. you know about Five.”

Klaus leans back away from the blade in Cha Cha’s hand as she steps forward. His eyes still haven’t left it. Alarms are going off in his head. This could cause permanent damage! Not good. Not good. Find a way out of this!

“I-I don’t-!” He shakes his head, “I’m not… I don’t…” He finally pulls his eyes from the knife up to Cha Cha’s masked face “I-I swear! I don’t know anything!” He insists in a high-pitched voice.

Cha Cha pauses, watching as Klaus’s eyes go from the blade, to her face, and back to the blade, not knowing where to rest. She steps forward again, into his space, and slowly brings the knife forward, to his collarbone. Klaus watches the blade warily, pulling back, and following it with his eyes until it moves just outside his range of vision. Klaus squeezes his eyes shut in anticipation and goes tense in the chair, his leg bouncing up and down with nervous energy. He shakes his head back and forth as he feels the cold blade touch his skin, mumbling “I don’t know. I don’t!”

Klaus feels his skin part with an intense sear of pain, and he jerks away hissing on an intake of breath. Blood wells up and Klaus feels it run down his chest. The cut stings fiercely. He opens his eyes to watch Cha Cha with that menacing blade. Is she done? Will she stop now? But Cha Cha keeps the knife up, holding it just away from his skin, watching the alarm on his face. She cocks her head to the side just a bit, and Klaus starts to shake his head back and forth again in a silent plea. She brings the knife into his skin again about an inch over. Klaus yelps and tries to flinch away. He’s sucking frantic, ragged breaths in through his nose. He squeezes his eyes closed in pain then looks up at Cha Cha’s face, eyes flicking back down to the knife where she still holds it far too close to his skin. “No no please no no no” he pleads under his breath, looking back up to her face and shaking his head desperately. Cha Cha brings the knife down again, adding another rivulet of blood down Klaus’s chest. “Stopstop!” he sobs. The tears sliding down his face mirror the sensation of the blood sliding down his chest. He feels helpless, he feels powerless, he feels like it’s too much. It’s just too much. He writhes in the chair trying to escape the blade in Cha Cha’s hands “Stop!” he gasps. She stands up, moving the knife away from Klaus finally and says, simply, “Five.” Looking expectantly at him.

Klaus suddenly hears Ben’s voice in his ear, “Breath Klaus. Breath.” He stops writhing, and heaves out a frayed breath. He doesn’t trust himself to look at Ben yet, so he looks down at his chest to see how much blood there is. Not…not as much as it had felt like. It’s ok. He’s ok. The cuts sting and sear with a vivid pain every time he breathes. But it’s tolerable, he tells himself. It’s tolerable. He looks back up at Cha Cha, and puffs out a small cry. “Please just…anything else…Ask me anything else! I promise-I promise I would help if I could!” He sniffles pitifully.

“Ok then. Tell me why you and Five have the same umbrella tattoo.” Cha Cha asks calmly. She’d carefully calculated how to get Klaus riled, and now springs with the new information Hazel had shared with her. 

“W-…” she’s caught Klaus off guard and now he looks a bit lost trying to come up with an explanation. “…I-” He looks down at his arm, where the tattoo is peeking out from behind the tape, wracking his brain for an answer.

“Huh? I didn’t catch that?” She says, a little louder than before, gloating.

Klaus looks off to his right, then back up to Cha Cha, a displeased pout forming on his face. He mutters “I mean…lots of people have the same tattoo…”

“Oh yeah? Lot’s of people get matching tattoos with a building too?”

Klaus doesn’t have a response for that so he closes his eyes for a moment, then settles on looking down at his tattoo, lips pursed.

Cha Cha reaches out with the knife and sticks the tip of the blade into his arm on the umbrella tattoo.

“Ah!” Klaus shouts and jerks his other arm uselessly.

She brings the knife away, watching the blood well up around the small wound, painting the umbrella red.

Cha Cha pulls her arm back and slams the base of the knife into Klaus’s jaw, like a pistol whip. He grunts, swinging to the side. When he finally turns back forward, he’s bleeding from a cut in his lip and new tears are running down his miserable face.

Klaus darts his tongue out to taste his lip, and winces. The matching tattoos are pretty incriminating, but he has no choice but to keep denying everything. He’s got to keep his family safe from these lunatics. Right? He looks down and notes that the blood on his chest is no longer running freely, so the cuts must not be too bad. It’s just a couple little cuts, they’ll heal. He finally looks over at Ben, standing off to his left, and clenches his aching jaw. Ben nods his head in silent support. Klaus tells himself he needs to stay strong. Needs to keep a brave face. He wishes he could wipe his tears away.

Cha Cha walks past Klaus, moving behind him. As he turns his head to follow her movement Hazel appears on his other side and smacks him, yelling “Eyes forward!”

Klaus grunts and grits his teeth, but keeps his head facing front. He takes a deep breath, trying to take back control of the situation (and of himself). “Hey…Look…that doesn’t mean anything.” He says tensely. “I mean, tattoos are stupid! Everyone has tattoos! I just picked this one off the wall.” He forces out a laugh, “Boy that’s my shitty luck isn’t it!” He hears a lighter click behind him, and Cha Cha walks back into view holding a lit cigarette between her thumb and forefinger. She’s not smoking it. He watches her for a moment, absolutely sure there’s no way this will turn out well for him.

The insidious knowledge that there’s nothing Klaus can do to stop Cha Cha from hurting him is starting to take its toll. Helplessness is the real torment of torture, isn’t it? He suddenly recalls one of his rehab counselors telling him the only thing he can control in this world is his own reaction. How relevant, thank you brain. If the only thing he can control here is his own reaction, he determines to plaster a smile back across his face and ignore the fresh, stinging pain on his chest.

“I could really use one those.” Klaus says, using his head to indicate the cigarette in Cha Cha’s hand. “I’m having a shit day if you hadn’t noticed.” He huffs out a quick laugh.

Cha Cha stands for a moment in front of him, holding the lit cigarette, one arm crossed under the other. “Oh, this is definitely for you” she says confidently. Klaus doesn’t like her tone of voice, but keeps his smile firmly in place. “What can you tell us about Number Five?” She asks calmly.

Klaus quips “Pretty sure it’s the number between four and six, but you probably already knew th-”

Cha Cha cuts him off when she suddenly takes a step forward and presses the lit cigarette into the side of Klaus’s right arm. Klaus chokes on a shout and jerks away from what he imagines is very much what a lightning strike would feel like hitting his skin. He cringes, curling his body forward against the burning feeling intensifying on his arm, but he can only pull away so far before the restraints stop him. Cha Cha keeps the cigarette pushed into his arm. He turns to stare at the place where he’s burning, his face a grimace of pain, a hiss still escaping his lips without his permission. She holds it there until it’s out, then grinds it in before dropping it to the floor. Klaus groans in pain. “Fuck!” He exclaims with his eyebrows knitted together, then takes a shaky breath and forces himself to laugh, saying “That’s not what I meant when I asked for one and you know it!”

Cha Cha pulls out another cigarette and lights it. Klaus imagines that she must be grinning under that mask. “Tell us how to find Five.” She calmly asks.

“I can’t.” Klaus gasps, trying to ignore the still burning mark as well as the cuts on his chest which are stinging as his sweat drips into them. He purposefully looks away from Cha Cha and the approaching source of pain, his smile gone. 

“Can’t, or won’t?” Cha Cha asks. Before Klaus can answer, she reaches forward with the cigarette and Klaus involuntarily leans away from her hand. Hazel grabs his opposite shoulder to hold him in place, and Cha Cha puts the new cigarette out a few inches below the last one. Klaus cries out, squeezing his eyes shut at the burn. He thrashes uselessly, trying to dislodge the cigarette. Huffing out quick breaths to work through the pain, Klaus mutters “God…that’s so wasteful…” with a choked off laugh.

Cha Cha tosses the spent cigarette on the floor and says “Oh, I got a whole pack of these.” Hazel releases Klaus’s arm and steps back, letting Klaus sit up straight again in the chair.

“Yeah?” Klaus says, looking up at her, “I’d love to actually smoke of one ‘em if you don’t mind.” His smile is gone, replaced by a grim pout.

Hazel chimes in “Hey, all you gotta do is tell us where to find Five and they’re all yours!”

Klaus puffs out a small chuckle at Hazel’s feeble attempt. He takes a moment to put on his most friendly, honest-looking face then turns to Hazel saying “How about you gimme one first? To jog my memory?” 

Cha Cha huffs out a laugh and mutters “You must think we’re stupid or something.”

Klaus’s smile expands into a an amused grin.

Hazel isn’t laughing though, and immediately jumps on what Klaus had just said. “Jog your memory huh? So what’s in there worth sharing?”

Klaus sharpens a bit at that, eyes flashing with intensity. “What? No. Nothing! I just wanted a smoke. I didn’t mean-” His tone taking on a serious note.

Hazel studies him silently for a moment, then nods at his partner and lifts his hands to receive the tossed cigarette pack and lighter. Hazel is beyond fed up with this assignment, and with this kid in particular. He sees the little cracks forming in Klaus’s armor and decides to try his hand at widening those cracks a bit.

He looks down at the pack of cigarettes in his hand and pulls out several. Klaus watches closely, not sure what Hazel is up to. Hazel takes on a relaxed posture, tossing the cigarettes and pack on the dresser. Cha Cha has returned to her seat on the bed, Klaus hears the springs as she sits.

“Hey I’m not exactly having fun here either.” Hazel says conversationally, then chuckles. Standing in front of Klaus, he lights one of the cigarettes and pulls up the front of his mask just enough to smoke it, while Klaus watches him warily. 

Hazel continues, shaking his head as if in astonishment, “So you got no clue where to find Five?”

Klaus nods, hope jumping up in his heart “Right-I don’t! I swear!”

“Yeah, I hear ya. I mean…I had brothers. I never knew what they were up to.”

Klaus shakes his head lightly, “N-No..no I’m not…”

“It’s fine. It’s fine.” Hazel shushes him with a wave of his hand. He takes a few more drags off his cigarette, then leans to the side with an exaggerated look at Klaus’s burned arm.

Klaus follows his line of sight to his own arm, then looks away quickly, not at all pleased with the burn marks littering his skin.

“Whew. Must hurt. I know burns stick around for a while.” He says with what sounds like sympathy, but any fool would know to be skeptical at this point.

Klaus remains silent, but watches Hazel.

Hazel smokes for a few minutes, enough time for Klaus to breath in the hazy nicotine and relax ever so slightly. Hazel takes one final long drag, blowing the smoke at Klaus, then stubs the cigarette out. Klaus watches as Hazel arranges four cigarettes into a tight bundle and lights all four at once. Klaus takes a deep breath and tries to push down the fear suddenly constricting his throat.

Hazel steps up to Klaus, holding the bundle of cigarettes lazily, and points with his other hand at Klaus’s burned arm, casually saying “Those are just one at a time, what do you think four’ll feel like?” Klaus can’t peel his eyes off Hazel’s hand, and he breaks out in a nervous sweat.

“…please don’t…don’t…” he breathes shakily, his tense body leaning back, away from the threat.

Hazel turns away from Klaus to pace in a little circle, holding the cigarettes loosely. In a pleasant voice, he begins again. “I had a brother growing up. I was a dick to him most of the time, but if anyone else was a dick to him there’d be hell to pay. So, I get it. You don’t want to throw your brother under the bus.”

Klaus swallows thickly, his relief at the cigarettes moving away is only short-lived, as Hazel continues his turn and comes back to holding them at Klaus’s eye level. Klaus’s eyes can’t seem to break away from the faintly glowing bundle in Hazel’s hand, his throat tight in anticipation of the pain, his whole body starting to vibrate with it.

“So do you not know where to find him? Or do you not want to throw him under the bus? Which is it?”

Klaus’s eyebrows knit together in confusion and he shakes his head a couple times. “I’m not- … I mean-” Is Hazel trying to talk him into a corner? He didn’t think the big guy capable of that. But Klaus can’t seem to keep his thoughts straight when he’s staring at the little bundle of pain in Hazel’s hand. He can’t stop imagining the scorching sear they’ll make on his skin.

“Hey,” Hazel laughs, “I wouldn’t give up my brother either. Even if I knew where he was!”

Klaus watches Hazel’s hand move towards Klaus’s right forearm. His muscles tense, and he pulls against the tape holding him in place. He imagines he can already feel it burning him. It’s almost hypnotic, watching those tiny glowing fires. He can’t focus on anything else. 

“But you don’t know where yours is?”

Klaus absently shakes his head and chants “no no no no” like a prayer, while keeping his eyes on the cigarettes not far from his arm.

Hazel’s not sure if that was a “no I don’t know where my brother is” or a “no please don’t burn me”, so he carefully continues. His hand comes to rest about two inches from Klaus’s skin, and Klaus can feel the heat emanating from the cigarettes.

“You’re doing the right thing here. I mean, you can’t give up your brother.” He says in a rough approximation of a friendly voice. 

Klaus holds his breath, expecting the pain any second. His head is swimming. What is Hazel saying?

“You’re in a really tough spot. I get it.” Hazel says slowly, letting the suspense build. Finally, he sighs and starts to pull the cigarettes away, saying “I hate to do this to you…” 

Relief floods through Klaus, and he gasps a breath he didn’t realize he needed so badly.

“I mean, you can’t do that to your brother. He’s your brother!! Right?”

“Y-yeah, right…” Klaus says, dazed.

Ben yells “No!” off to his left somewhere.

Klaus’s head jerks over to Ben, then quickly back over to Hazel. He blinks his eyes suddenly. The spell seems to be broken, and Klaus’s face is suddenly a mask of confusion. “Wait, what? N-No.” He shakes his head. “No. I-I didn’t mean that. You tricked me!” Klaus says angrily. He can’t see Hazel’s satisfied grin behind the blue bear mask, but it’s there.

Cha Cha suddenly walks past him, startling him. She holds out her hand and carefully takes the bundle of cigarettes from Hazel. “Nice work.” Cha Cha says to Hazel bruskly, then turns to face Klaus.

Klaus can already tell what she’s about to do, and starts brokenly pleading, getting louder the closer she gets. “No. No don’t-don’t. Please! Please don’t! Don’t!! Please!!!” She roughly pushes the bundle of cigarettes into Klaus’s arm, and he jolts and wails, jerking violently. His pained shout is like a salve to Cha Cha’s ego, bruised by Hazel’s success where she’d failed. Cha Cha holds the cigarettes to Klaus’s skin while he writhes and whimpers, then drops them on the floor and twists her boot heel over them.

Klaus gasps, and sobs loudly. Four was definitely worse than one. Even though the cigarettes are gone, the pain in his arm is still so intense that it shrinks his world down to the size of the burn. He gasps for breath, trying to get himself under control. His next thought is laced through with despair as he realizes he just admitted that Five is his brother. Yeah, he definitely did that. Klaus’s head nods forward and his shoulders drop in disappointment, he can’t believe he just did that.

Cha Cha sees his despair, and grabs on like it’s a lifeline. She knows from experience that now’s the time to push with all her might. “Now you did it!” She yells, getting in his space, intimidating him. Klaus flinches away from her, squeezing his eyes closed. “Now we know Five’s your brother! You sure let that one slip! Now you’re gonna tell us everything else you know!”

“No no no no” Klaus whispers under his breath, trying to will himself away from Cha Cha’s anger.

She grabs his hair, and pushes his head as far to the side as it will go, leaning him over the side of the chair. “You been lyin’ to me this whole time!!” She shouts angrily.

Klaus is openly sobbing now, strained in her grip. Cha Cha is pushing him painfully to the side, and he feels so small in the face of her violence. “S-stop! Please! I’m s-sorry! ’msorry’msorrysorry” he chants desperately.

“You’re damn right you’re sorry! Now, where’s Five!?”

Klaus sobs harder “please…pleeeease”

A sudden knock on the door leaves instant silence in its wake, save for the sound of Klaus’s wet breaths catching in his throat. Hazel and Cha Cha freeze for about three seconds, then Cha Cha curses which seems to knock them both out of their trance and they spring into action. Cha Cha roughly releases Klaus’s hair, and he slumps into himself as she quickly walks to the window, peeking out stealthily.

“Manager” she whispers.

 

 

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is more after this, but it might take a while to finish writing. These first two chapters took me like four months... But it's gonna get soooo goooood. lol I've had so much fun with the idea of Klaus's mindset changing throughout the ten hours. I feel that it was a gradual change that got him to the point where he is in the beginning of episode 1x04. Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Hazel quickly grabs the side of Klaus’s chair and begins pulling it over towards the bathroom, shifting Klaus around in his seat uncomfortably as he does so. Klaus and his chair are roughly slid into the dark bathroom, almost toppling Klaus in the process when a chair leg gets caught on the door sill. As Hazel reaches for the door to shut Klaus in, Klaus manages a hiccoughed little “W-wait!” before he’s engulfed in darkness. His wide, fearful eyes stare at the closed door, in the blackness. His breathing speeds up noticeably and he feels a desperate chill crawling up his spine.

How could they close him in the dark? “Noooo…no no no no” he whimpers shakily.

Then Ben’s quiet voice fills the room, coming from next to him. “Klaus I’m here. I’m here. Don’t panic.”

Klaus groans, and sobs quietly “I ruined everything Ben…they’re gonna get Five…I told them...and now it’s dark…it’s so dark!”

Ben shushes Klaus gently, saying “No, no it’s only for a minute. You’re ok Klaus. Just focus on my voice.”

 

***

 

Outside the bathroom, Cha Cha pulls her mask off, tossing it on the bed, and opens the door just a crack for the manager, while Hazel stands a few feet away, out of sight. There’s been a complaint about yelling, the jaded-looking manager tells them. Cha Cha promises in her best apologetic voice to turn the tv down. The manager pauses for a moment, uncertain. Something doesn’t feel right, but he’s clearly not sure what it is. He makes some paltry comments about being considerate, and asks how their stay is going. Cha Cha rushes through a couple pacifying statements, and smiles awkwardly at him. It’s enough for the manager, because he nods and starts to walk away, prompting Cha Cha to shut the door again and lock it.

“That was close.” Hazel breathes. 

“That was terrible timing is what it was.” She says impatiently. “Get him out of there before he has a chance to cool down.”

 

***

 

In the bathroom, Klaus sniffles, trying to stop his tears.

“Klaus. Klaus! They don’t have Five! You only told them he’s your brother. That’s it! C’mon, they can’t find him with that. You’re honestly doing really well.”

“Yeah?” He says, some hope returning to his eyes.

“Yeah! Who cares if they know you and Five are brothers. It doesn’t get them anything.” Ben’s not entirely sure if that’s true, but he knows Klaus needs to hear it.

“Yeah...yeah maybe you’re right.” Klaus’s head is starting to clear and rational thought is returning. It’s still dark, but he closes his eyes and tells himself he’s safe. Ben’s there. 

“That lady did a number on you man, pushing in the exact right ways to make you think you already lost. She’s the one that’s cracking! The guy too. They’re more frustrated than they’re letting on, I know it. I don’t think it usually takes them this long to get answers. You’re doing great Klaus, you’re like a pro at this.”

Klaus sniffles again, and exhales his physical stress away like he’d done earlier. Ben’s right. It’s not so bad, nothing’s ruined. Just need to keep them preoccupied without pissing them off. Sure. No problem. Lie to them, don’t give up Five, don’t piss them off. Check. Easy.

Klaus snuffs his nose one more time as the doorknob suddenly clicks and opens, flooding the room in light. Klaus has to squint at first, then Hazel is suddenly in his space. “You miss me?” Hazel quips. Klaus doesn’t respond with laughter or tears, but is certainly grateful to have the door opened again. He can’t let them know about his issues with small dark places, they would surely use that against him to great effect. “Yeah… I just love your face so much.” Klaus responds, voice still thick from tears. Hazel chuckles and grabs hold of the chair in response, sliding it in fits and starts back to the center of the room, jerking Klaus around with each movement. 

Once back in place in the center of the room, a re-masked Cha Cha steps into his space again. “Now where were we?” She asks, trying to regain the momentum from before, when she felt Klaus was so close to breaking. 

Klaus has to work hard not to flinch away from her. His arm is still burning, his chest is still stinging, he’s got aches and pains all over his body at this point, and he’s pretty sure withdrawal is starting. But, Klaus closes his eyes for a moment and steels himself. Ben believes in him. Five is counting on him. …He might not get out of this one, he realizes suddenly, but maybe…maybe that would be ok too.

Cha Cha grabs his chin suddenly, snapping Klaus’s eyes to hers as she pulls his face up. “You forgot to look at me when I’m talkin’ to you.”

“Sorry-sorry” Klaus responds quietly and immediately. Not pissing them off, right? That’s the plan. 

She seems to approve of that answer, and drops his head. He keeps his eyes up this time, his body tense.

“You already spilled that Five’s your brother, that’s done with.”

Klaus huffs out a small laugh, “Yeah…” then looks slightly to the right, over at Hazel and says “That was- that was a nice one. You sure got me! I’d high-five you but…uh…” He glances down at his hands and wiggles his fingers. 

Hazel shrugs his shoulders, but is inwardly pleased with himself. Cha Cha, however, feels a cloud of frustration settling over her head. This is not how a broken man should be acting. She swings her arm back and backhands Klaus, but it doesn’t alleviate her frustration.

Klaus grunts at the blow and brings his eyes back to Cha Cha, dourly. 

Cha Cha reaches over for a hand towel to wipe her knuckles. Klaus’s face is covered in sweat and tears, and she doesn’t want that filth on her hands. After wiping, she asks, “When did you last see Five?”

Klaus takes a deep breath like he’s about to say something, then pauses as if in thought and instead says “I tend to lose track of time, what’s today? Monday?” He’s purely trying to kill time, think of acceptable answers to her questions.

“Doesn’t matter.” Cha Cha replies tersely.

“Well…I mean…look, Five disappeared when I was a kid. I haven’t seen him since then.” He lies, unconvincingly.

“Bullshit” Cha Cha mutters and smacks him across the face with an open hand this time. 

Klaus squeezes his eyes closed against the stinging handprint on his cheek and whines an “oww” softly. “…fine…Fine!” he says looking up at Cha Cha again, “It’s been weeks since I saw him!” Klaus lies again, this time allowing a little helpless frustration to seep into his voice. “We had some bro time, and now he owes me twenty bucks.” That part is true at least, Klaus is still miffed about that one. But, it happened yesterday not weeks ago.

Cha Cha is skeptical, but pushes, “Where did you go?”

“Griddy’s” Klaus answers immediately. That was a childhood favorite of all of theirs. “I bought lunch, that’s why he owes me.”

Cha Cha stares into his eyes for a handful of seconds, then says “I don’t believe you.” 

Klaus just scoffs and shakes his head, letting his eyes roam for a second. There’s no response to that, because they can’t actually prove one way or the other if he’s lying. But, he quickly reminds himself of the plan: Lie, don’t give up Five, and don’t piss them off. So, he tries to mollify her a bit. “It’s the truth. I don’t know how else to convince you.” He says, finally.

Cha Cha stands, and walks over to the cigarette pack that’s still on the dresser. She picks it up, then turns back to Klaus. “You were a crying mess after a few burns and cuts not 15 minutes ago. Is that what it takes to loosen you up?”

Klaus swallows hard and shakes his head forcefully, looking directly at Cha Cha with wide, fearful eyes. Nothing wrong with showing a little fear, he tells himself. Makes the lies seem more true, right? Right. He says, “No. No, you don’t have to-… I’m not-I’m not lying this time.” His stomach does a flip out of sheer anxiety. The wounds he already has are enough, he absolutely doesn’t want more. “I’m sorry…I-I shouldn’t have said I hadn’t seen him since I was a kid. That was-that was a lie. I’m sorry. It’s actually been a few weeks. We went to lunch. That’s it.” His eyes flick over to Ben, standing nearby. Ben nods approvingly, which Klaus takes as a good sign.

“What’d you talk about?” Hazel asks suddenly. It’s a good technique, putting him on the spot, if he can’t supply details he’s more likely to be inventing the story.

Klaus’s eyes slide over to Hazel’s blue bear-face, fear still keeping his eyes wide and stricken. “Um.” His eyebrows crinkle up in thought. “That-that was weeks ago, I don’t…” He looks down, knowing he has to play this realistically if he wants them to really believe him. “Wait. Just. Let-let me think…”

Hazel and Cha Cha look at each other, both trying to gauge the other’s reaction to Klaus’s story. 

“Um… I-I guess family stuff mostly. What-what we’re going to do this summer. Gossip about…friends. Just…typical stuff?” 

“What did you eat?” Cha Cha asks, this time. She doesn’t think Klaus is telling the truth. She starts slowly pulling a cigarette out of the pack, sending Klaus’s apprehension up a notch as his eyes lock onto it.

“Um. W-Waffles. I had waffles and…and orange juice. Five had… eggs. Yeah, it was-it was eggs a-and coffee.” He rushes out, a little breathless.

“How much creamer did he use?” Cha Cha asks.

Klaus’s face takes on a perplexed twist. What an odd question. “Black. Black coffee.” He says quickly. Christ he hopes this is enough, that they’ll believe him. If he can’t give them what they want, he can’t really hope that they’ll let him go, but maybe they’ll stop hurting him? Maybe.

Hazel and Cha Cha turn to each other, Cha Cha with a hand on her hip. “What do you think?” She asks. 

Hazel shrugs, “The waitress said he asked for his coffee black the other day. Seems legit?”

Cha Cha stands there for a moment in thought, then suddenly turns back to Klaus’s nervous face. “If you’d been in there a few weeks ago, why didn’t the waitress recognize Five?” She asks triumphantly.

Shit, Klaus thinks. Shit!! “I-I don’t…I don’t know…” Klaus mumbles, his worry clearly written on his face.

“Maybe because that whole story was horse shit.” Cha Cha bites back.

“No! No it-it wasn’t!” Klaus insists desperately. “Wait, it w-was a guy! A guy waiter. Not a waitress.”

“What did he look like?” Hazel asks.

“Uhh…I don’t know? A-attractive? Dark hair?” Klaus is floundering now, and he knows it.

“The waitress who’s always there. What does she look like?” Hazel asks.

Klaus pauses, looking at Hazel. This feels like a trap. He hasn’t been to Griddy’s in a while. He wracks his brain for any memory of a specific waitress, coming up empty. He’s been too high the past few times he’s been there. “There wasn’t…there wasn’t any waitress when I went…” He explains shakily. Then, in a more hopeful voice, “Maybe-maybe she was sick that day?” 

Cha Cha is already shaking her head, unconvinced. “No. No you’re lying. Again.” She turns to Hazel and raises her hand, silently asking for the lighter. He picks it up and tosses it to her as Klaus shakes his head desperately, the “no” already forming on his tongue. Cha Cha flicks the lighter and holds the flame about six inches from Klaus’s face. His eyes are wide, and a drop of sweat streaks down his cheek, all words forgotten. Cha Cha holds it there, in his mute, staring face, letting his fear and desperation grow for a moment before bringing it back to light the cigarette.

On seeing the cigarette glow brightly, it’s like a dam breaks and Klaus starts jerking his arms against their restrains and pleading loudly, “No no no no…c’mon please, please! I’m not lying this time! I’m not lying!! I’m-” 

Ben appears suddenly between Klaus and Cha Cha, drawing Klaus’s eyes to Ben’s and away from the oncoming pain. Klaus stills, tense in the chair and gasping quick breaths, on the verge of hyperventilating. Ben’s pleading voice pulls all of Klaus’s attention. “Make it funny Klaus.” He demands firmly. “Make it funny or raunchy or ridiculous…anything but scary. Don’t let it be scary-let it be funny!” 

Klaus squeezes his eyes shut and hunches forward sharply as the cigarette suddenly sears into his arm. A loud sob escapes his throat as he gasps in and huffs the air out again. Funny?! How dare he! This shit is not funny! But Klaus’s anger dissipates after just a moment as Ben’s words reverberate through his head. He tunes out the burning pain in his body and looks at the situation from the outside. It is fairly ridiculous. How many times has he been tied up by lovers? He couldn’t possibly count. He’s certainly engaged in his fair share of rough play. One would think he might be stronger in the face of such treatment? But, this isn’t like rough play, he reminds himself. There’s no pleasure in this pain. He shakes his head violently as his anger and frustration finally flare up. God! This is so stupid! He lashes out in his mind. His face a grimace of pain and fury, tear-hazy eyes drift up to Cha Cha as she drops the spent cigarette on the floor, but he’s not really present. He’s trapped in his own head for the moment, considering the situation as an outsider. Dissociation, the thinks his therapist had called it once. A coping mechanism for unusually stressful situations. Sure, ok, that fits. Barely aware of what’s going on around him, he analyzes Cha Cha from her (admittedly) stylish black boots up to her Stupid Fucking Pink Puppy Face. She looks like the stupidest dominatrix ever, he suddenly realizes. Ok, now that’s a little funny. Klaus’s anger cracks open and a giggle bubbles up out of his chest involuntarily.

“What’s so funny?” Cha Cha demands, pulling another cigarette out of the pack. She’s watching Klaus closely, not sure what to make of his quick change in demeanor.

Klaus continues laughing brokenly, his head lolling forward a little. He hasn’t come back to himself enough yet to realize Cha Cha is talking to him. She leans forward, placing a savage hand on his forehead suddenly, pushing his head back enough to look into her face, his grimace replacing the laugh almost instantly. Klaus’s eyes finally lock onto Cha Cha, blinking a few times, and he comes back to reality as if from far away.

“W-what?” He asks sincerely, with a bit of fog still hanging in his head.

“What the hell are you laughing about?” She asks again, with more heat this time, curling her fingers tightly into his hair, holding his head tipped back and slightly tilted to the side.

“Ohh…” he frowns at her. Klaus is definitely still scared of Cha Cha. But, now that he’s imagined her as a ridiculously dressed dominatrix, he’s lost a bit of respect for her. He can’t help but giggle again at the thought, and impulsively decides to break the tension that’s been building. “I was just-” he says quietly, “I was wondering…no no, it’s nothing…never mind.” He’ll just bait her into a little game. Make it funny right? he thinks. But wait, wait. Not supposed to piss her off. Oops. 

Cha Cha jerks his head to the side roughly, then releases his hair. He cries out and hunches his shoulders up at the pain, then slowly tries to rearrange himself in the chair to find a more comfortable position. 

There’s suddenly a Ben-shaped voice whispering in his ear, which he’s so accustomed to he doesn’t even flinch. “Don’t you usually love having your hair pulled?” Klaus chokes a little, and actually turns to Ben with a hint of incredulity on his face. Ben’s suddenly sitting across the room grinning at him, and shrugs his shoulders innocently. He doesn’t even have the courtesy to look guilty! Klaus determines to have a talk with his ghost-brother after this. A man needs a little privacy now and then! But, being honest, Ben’s not exactly wrong about the hair pulling thing. He briefly ponders why hair-pulling during sexy-times is sexy and hair-pulling by Cha Cha is just painful? That hardly makes sense…

Cha Cha holds up another cigarette she’s just pulled out, looking at Klaus, determining how to best break him open and get at his gooey insides. She knows full well that he’s trying to bait her, and notes that it’s a change from his previous polite, cooperative demeanor. She decides the only course of action is to follow through and call his bluff. “No, what are you wondering? Tell me.”

Klaus turns back to Cha Cha and studies her closely. It’s frustrating that he can’t see her actual face, he realizes. There’s so much to be gleaned from a person’s face, he feels handicapped not being able to see hers. That’s awfully smart on her part, he thinks. She’s twirling a cigarette around in her hand. Klaus feels his stomach twist in response to the cigarette in her hand. But, he steadfastly tells himself to ignore the cigarette and just play the game. It works, and he’s able to divert his focus away from the pain to what he’s going to say next. He feels a grin creeping up. Maybe she’ll be pissed off, but hey rules are made to be broken.

“I was just… wondering about the masks.” He says passively. “Was there, like, a flash sale at a creepy children’s theatre?…or-?”

Cha Cha backhands him, and he has the audacity to laugh. 

Klaus can’t help but laugh through the pain of the blow, because it means he actually got to her. Maybe she’ll take it out on him, but he reasons that she was going to do that anyway. At least this way, he feels like he actually got a hit in of his own. Klaus laughs again and immediately starts running his mouth, breaking for laugher every now and then, “I was imagining you as a dominatrix with the puppy mask…I mean you might want to consider that as a future employment option! It would be a good schtick!” 

Cha Cha doesn’t like being disrespected. Her arm tenses up involuntarily and she lunges forward, punching Klaus squarely in the stomach. Klaus doubles over, the air being knocked out of him again. That will definitely shut him up for a few minutes, but he still feels like it was a win. 

Klaus spends the next few minutes coughing and laughing, catching his breath. He ignores the tears leaking down his face as his stomach cramps, and thinks only of how easily he’d gotten under her skin, and how funny it was.

Cha Cha watches Klaus suffer from the punch, but she’s robbed of satisfaction because he’s laughing at her. Where did his fear go? She’s worried he might be cracking, but not in the way she’d hoped. “I think you need a little time out” she scolds suddenly, disgust apparent in her voice. Klaus is barely aware of her as she walks over and grabs the duct tape off the dresser. She rips off a strip and turns to a laughing, coughing, gasping Klaus. Cha Cha grabs Klaus’s jaw to push him up and back into the seat. He groans and his eyes startle open to find her “face” as she presses the tape over his mouth and pushes it in place to confirm it’s secure. 

Mirth seemingly gone, Klaus's eyebrows scowl at her and Hazel both, he doesn’t like being silenced. He watches as Cha Cha then steps away and, hands on her hips, seems lost in thought for a moment before walking over to the closet and opening the folding doors. She seems pleased with what she finds, and signals to Hazel who deftly begins sliding Klaus and his chair in that direction. Klaus’s anxiety rises the closer he gets to the closet until he’s actually sitting inside. Eyes wide and fearful, looking back and forth between the two assassins, Klaus’s throat makes a small whimpering sound. “Time out!” Hazel sing-songs at him in response and pushes the doors closed, leaving Klaus in the near darkness. Klaus’s eyes remain wide, and his breathing picks up as he hears the bed springs groan as his captors lie down and switch the tv on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, and that it's taken so long to post! I intended to write this story clear through to the end of episode 1x04, but I'm not entirely sure if I'll make it. Life gets in the way... But I at least wanted to post the rest of what I had written originally! So here it is, hope you like it.


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